Parks & Rec director right where he wants to be

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, July 19, 2001

This week we profile Doug Burgess, the highly-esteemed Director of the city's Parks and Recreation Dept.

DEER PARK PROGRESS: How long have you worked for the City of Deer Park?

DOUG BURGESS: Twenty eight years next week.

PROGRESS: So you began your career here?

BURGESS: Actually, I started out as a teacher. I taught physical education and coached for about six years, in Houston ISD and Clear Creek.

PROGRESS: Where did you go to college?

BURGESS: Stephen F. Austin in Nacagdoches, via San Jacinto College. I attended San Jacinto College during its second year of existence.

PROGRESS: What was your degree in?

BURGESS: Health, Education and Recreation. It was different then. Now they have the degrees divided into specialties.

PROGRESS: Where are you from?

BURGESS: Deer Park. IÕve lived here 58 years in November, with the exception of a short time when I was a small child. During World War II, when my Dad was in the service, we lived in east Texas with my grandmother. I was so young that I donÕt remember it.

PROGRESS: When did your family come to Deer Park?

BURGESS: My Dad came here on a contract job in 1939. He went to work permanently for Shell after that. He retired from Shell after 42 years.

PROGRESS: Why did you change from teaching to this job for Deer Park?

BURGESS: The opportunity here opened up. I like Deer Park to begin with.

PROGRESS: What do you like about Deer Park?

BURGESS: ItÕs a small town. The people here are great. And thereÕs a lot to do. People are involved. When you go to a high school football game here, the stands are full, whether itÕs a winning season or a losing season. And when you go see our team at an away game, the visitors stand is sometimes fuller than the home team stand. It kind of reminds you of a small east Texas town, right here in the metropolitan area. And we, in this city, have been extremely fortunate to have the elected officials we have.

BURGESS: Well, like I said before, weÕve been blessed with some awfully good council people. And thereÕs no political in-fighting like there is in some other cities. We have a great city manager.

PROGRESS: What are your goals for the Parks and Recreation Department?

Burgess: Right now, our overall goal is to offer recreation to each and every citizen of Deer Park. Our goals have expanded somewhat by the bond issue that recently passed. WeÕre going to open another after-school program. This one will be in the south part of town to serve students at Carpenter and Dabbs elementary schools.

We are planning to increase the size of The Maxwell Center by about 50 percent. We are looking at some land purchases in the near future. We have development funds and we would like to build additional parks within the city.

PROGRESS: What about your personal goals?

BURGESS: ThatÕs difficult to say. At this point in my life, IÕm where I want to be. ItÕs hard to separate my personal goals from my work goals. My goals are mostly job related. I guess my generation is more work-oriented than some other generations.

PROGRESS: What are you going to do when you retire?

BURGESS: I donÕt have a clue. You can only do so much weeding of the flower beds. I was seriously considering retiring after 25 years. Then a guy from Texas Municipal Retirement Fund came and talked to us. He said ÔYou donÕt want to retire from something, you want to retire to something.Õ That made a lot of sense to me. I really donÕt have anything to retire to right now, so I want to keep working.

PROGRESS: What are your hobbies?

BURGESS: Working in my yard; refinishing furniture. My wife and I collect antiques.

PROGRESS: I guess itÕs good that you like to work in your yard, considering your job.

BURGESS: IÕve always had an interest in that sort of thing. My mother has always been a yard person.

PROGRESS: Tell us about your family.

BURGESS: IÕm married and I have two sons. One lives in Houston and one lives in Fort Lauderdale.

PROGRESS: What part of your job do you like the most?

BURGESS: The citizens I work for and the people I work with. I donÕt like to say the people that work for me, because I donÕt think of it like that. We work together. I like interacting with people. I also like the budget progress.

PROGRESS: What do you like about preparing the budget?

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BURGESS: I think itÕs the anticipation of new stuff. I see that itÕs my job to see that the people I work with in Parks and Recreation have what they need to work with. WeÕve always been fortunate to have city council people and and administrators that recognize the benefits of recreation. If we can give parents a place they can bring their children and not have to worry about them, and know they are having fun and being supervised, thatÕs what we need to do.